Alistair Boxall

New report highlights how UK rivers are suffocating Analysis of the largest citizen science water quality dataset in UK rivers The Angling Trust has released its third Annual Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN) report, analysing the largest citizen...

anglingtrust.net/2026/03/04/h...

First round of @cleanilkley.bsky.social 's water testing in association with @alistairboxall.bsky.social and York University.

They look worse than month 1. I hope you didn't go swimming.

I have had an interesting day today participating as a panel member at an Economic Insight event on the Future Regulatory Model for the UK water sector.

8.4 Professor Alistair Boxall - From Prescription to Pollution: The Unseen Impact of Medicines in Our Waterways What happens to medicines after we swallow them? Where do they end up and what exactly are we flushing away? Which medicines might we be taking —unknowingly—the next time we pour a glass of water

I spent an hour last month speaking to Jaimie, Steve and Gimmo from the Aural Apothecary podcast. You can listen to the podcast here where I talk about my work on pharmaceuticals in the environment. www.theauralapothecary.com/84-professor...

Silent Side Effects: Pharmaceuticals as Contaminants of Emerging Concern Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are emitted to the environment via various pathways. Consequently, there are concerns over the potential impacts of APIs in the environment on ecological and h...

Our new paper 'Silent Side Effects: Pharmaceuticals as Contaminants of Emerging Concern' is now out in Annual Reviews of Environment and Resources. Thanks to @davetickner.bsky.social and @wwf.org.uk who supported the work behind the manuscript. www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Yes, they will be open to the public. We will likely also run some more targeted events aimed at decision makers and are also considering something for school children.

We have plans for a series of events next year. I'll post more details once they are available.

Will Joshua Templeton spent two days with us working on a photo shoot for an outreach event we are working on. We visited a few of our river monitoring sites and met some of the monitoring team.

I had an enjoyable two days this week hosting a TV crew from South Korea. They took lots of footage covering different aspects of our work on chemical pollution in rivers. The documentary should be released in December.

‘Even if we stop drinking we will be exposed’: A French region has banned tap water. Is it a warning for the rest of Europe? Forever chemicals have polluted the water supply of 60,000 people, threatening human health, wildlife and the wider ecosystem. But activists say this is just the tip of the Pfas iceberg

‘Even if we stop drinking we will be exposed’: A French region has banned tap water. Is it a warning for the rest of Europe?

YouTube video by York Ideas Rivers at Risk: The chemical cocktail in Yorkshire's watercourses - Alistair Boxall

You can hear from @alistairboxall.bsky.social on the state of chemical pollution in Yorkshire's rivers in this recent @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social Merchant Adventurer's Science Discovery Lecture ▶️

The full report into concentrations of Trifluoroacetic Acid (TFA) in UK Surface Waters is available to download from the @fidrango.bsky.social website. A visual summary is also available 📃

'Forever chemical' TFA found in all but one of tested UK rivers The long-term impact of the chemical on human health is still unclear and being researched.

@alistairboxall.bsky.social and his team have, once again, revealed the dire state of our waterways....
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Pesticides, antibiotics, animal medicines: the chemical cocktail seeping into our rivers The list of everyday pollutants is a long one, and they could be as damaging to our water ecosystems as sewage spills

Pesticides, antibiotics, animal medicines: the chemical cocktail seeping into our rivers
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Warning over 'dirty secret' of toxic chemicals on farmers fields Campaigners say that farmers' fields are being contaminated by chemicals and microplastics in sewage sludge.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Tudi pri nas je voda onesnažena z mikroplastiko

Brilliant to spot @alistairboxall.bsky.social on Slovenian television, sharing his water quality and micro-plastics research expertise with international audiences 👇🌍

365.rtvslo.si/arhiv/sloven... (00:50)

#YorkResearch #waterquality #microplastics

"Cocaine sharks" found off the coast of Brazil - strange but true tale of ocean pollution consequences Meet the "cocaine sharks," also known as Brazilian sharpnose sharks, Rhizoprionodon lalandii, zipping around cocaine saturated coastal waters.

An interesting article in Earth.com on exposure of sharks in Brazil to cocaine.
www.earth.com/news/cocaine...

Pesticides, antibiotics, animal medicines: the chemical cocktail seeping into our rivers The list of everyday pollutants is a long one, and they could be as damaging to our water ecosystems as sewage spills

An important @theguardian.com article on @alistairboxall.bsky.social's research: "A study of #Yorkshire’s rivers is helping scientists understand the impact everyday pollutants are having on waterways – and the results are sobering" 👇🌍

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

#York #YorkResearch

There are many sources of chemical pollution in our rivers, but tertiary treatment for sewage could clean up the meds that pass straight through us & down the loo, household cleaning products, chemicals from skin care, hair care, washing clothes & food. 1/

www.theguardian.com/science/audi...

Pesticides, antibiotics, animal medicines: the chemical cocktail seeping into our rivers The list of everyday pollutants is a long one, and they could be as damaging to our water ecosystems as sewage spills

Ibuprofen can affect fish hatching, diclofenac impacts fish livers, flea treatments kill off the insects fish & birds eat - a cocktail of meds, pesticides, cleaning products, road runoff is poisoning our rivers - no wonder fish numbers are plummeting.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Pesticides, antibiotics, animal medicines: the chemical cocktail seeping into our rivers The list of everyday pollutants is a long one, and they could be as damaging to our water ecosystems as sewage spills

An excellent piece out today by @phoebeweston.bsky.social at the Guardian on our NERC ECOMIX project which is exploring chemical pollution in Yorkshire's rivers.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Agreed - huge problem - @alistairboxall.bsky.social's review of pharmaceutical & chemical data in UK rivers found this prominently in UK rivers. Very worrying.
www.itv.com/news/2024-08...

That’s an incredible sampling effort… look forwards to hearing about the results

The ECOMIX project monitoring team met at the Merchant Adventurers Hall on Monday to celebrate the end of our year long study on levels of chemical pollution in Yorkshire's rivers. The group collected around 1000 weekly composites and generated more than 65000 data points.

Streams of medicines: how Switzerland cleaned up its act – podcast In the second of a two part series, Phoebe Weston travels to Switzerland to find out how the country has transformed its rivers, from sewage-filled health hazards to pristine swimming spots. She tells...

Switzerland is leading the world in purifying its water of micropollutants.

Hear how they are doing it in ep 2 of our Science Weekly series www.theguardian.com/science/audi...

Streams of medicines: what’s hiding in the UK’s waterways? – podcast In episode one of a two-part series, biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston tells Madeleine Finlay about the problem of chemical pollution in our waterways, and how it could be contributing to what the W...

Streams of medicines: what’s hiding in the UK’s waterways? A brilliant @theguardian.com Science Weekly podcast from earlier this week on our dept's important research into water quality in #nationalparks. Led by @alistairboxall.bsky.social 👇🌍

www.theguardian.com/science/audi...

#YorkResearch

Streams of medicines: what’s hiding in the UK’s waterways? – podcast In episode one of a two-part series, biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston tells Madeleine Finlay about the problem of chemical pollution in our waterways, and how it could be contributing to what the W...

🐟🦈💊Drugged fish! Anti-depressants reducing fear of predators in perch, contraceptive pills altering gender of fish. @phoebeweston.bsky.social
investigates the medicines polluting the 'pure' waters of our National Parks, with @alistairboxall.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/science/audi...

Streams of medicines: what’s hiding in the UK’s waterways? – podcast In episode one of a two-part series, biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston tells Madeleine Finlay about the problem of chemical pollution in our waterways, and how it could be contributing to what the W...

Anti-depressants reducing fear of predators in perch, contraceptive pills altering fish gender - @phoebeweston.bsky.social
investigates the medicines polluting even the seemingly pure waters of our National Parks, with @alistairboxall.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/science/audi...

Streams of medicines: what’s hiding in the UK’s waterways? – podcast In episode one of a two-part series, biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston tells Madeleine Finlay about the problem of chemical pollution in our waterways, and how it could be contributing to what the W...

The UK is known for its national parks: areas of outstanding natural beauty with crystal-clear streams.

But our most protected rivers are full of pharmaceuticals.

I speak to @alistairboxall.bsky.social for part 1 of our Science Weekly series on rivers www.theguardian.com/science/audi...